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Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnoʊ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is well known for playing mobsters, especially Michael Corleone in The Godfather films and Tony Montana in Scarface, and often appeared on the other side of the law—as a police officer, a detective and lawyer. Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 65th Academy Awards in 1992 for his performance as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman. Prior to his win he had received seven Oscar nominations, including one that same year. He made his feature film debut in 1969 in the film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the lead role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino’s major breakthrough came in 1972 with the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and ...And Justice for All. In addition to a career in film, he has enjoyed a successful career on stage, winning Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. A longtime fan of Shakespeare, he made his directorial debut with Looking for Richard, a quasi-documentary on the play Richard III. Pacino has received numerous lifetime achievement awards, including one from the American Film Institute. He is a method actor, taught mainly by Lee Strasberg and Charles Laughton at the Actors Studio in New York. Early Life and Education Pacino was born in Manhattan, New York, to Italian American parents Salvatore Pacino and Rose, who divorced when he was two years old. When he was two, his mother moved near the Bronx Zoo to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who came from Corleone, Sicily. His father Salvatore (whose father Alfio came from San Fratello, Sicily) moved to Covina, California, and worked as an insurance salesman and restaurateur. In his teen years "Sonny", as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, and was also nicknamed "The Actor". Pacino dropped out of many classes, but not English. He dropped out of school at age 17. His mother disagreed with his decision; they argued and he left home. He worked at low-paying jobs, messenger, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, to finance his acting studies. He once worked in the mail room for Commentary magazine. He began smoking at age nine, and drinking, and took up casual marijuana use at age thirteen, but never used hard drugs. His two closest friends died from drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30. Growing up in The Bronx, he got into occasional fights and was considered something of a troublemaker at school. He acted in basement plays in New York's theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while a teenager. Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton (not to be confused with the British actor Charles Laughton), who became his mentor and best friend.4 In this period, he was often unemployed and homeless, and sometimes slept on the street, in theaters, or at friends' houses. In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43.10 The following year, his grandfather, James Gelardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died. Actor Studio Training After four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio. The Actors Studio is a membership organization of professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Pacino studied "method acting" under acting coach Lee Strasberg, who later appeared with Pacino in the films The Godfather Part II and in ...And Justice for All. During later interviews he spoke about Strasberg and the Studio's effect on his career. "The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn't been given the credit he deserves ... Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting." In another interview he added, "It was exciting to work for him Strasberg because he was so interesting when he talked about a scene or talked about people. One would just want to hear him talk, because things he would say, you'd never heard before ... He had such a great understanding ... he loved actors so much." Pacino is currently co-president, along with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel, of the Actors Studio. Roles *Raul (Thomas and the International Engines - The Great Railway Show Rematch) Category:Voice Actors Category:Stop Motion Voice Actors